The Admirals won 6-5 in overtime against the Rochester Americans Sunday evening. Today’s story was about really bad bounces with Admiral leads coming and going. In the end, it was a clean sweep of the weekend three-in-three for the Admirals.

“That was a crazy game,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “I don’t even know where to begin. Our heads are still spinning. Bounce after bounce. It was just a really funky game.”

It took the Americans 4:40 before they registered their first shot on goal. Fortunately for them, the Mark Pysyk shot deflected off of Joe Piskula’s leg and fooled Magnus Hellberg in net to the near post. It was Pysyk’s third goal of the season.

The Admirals struck back with a pair of power-play goals in the first period. Ian White belted a slap shot through traffic for his fourth goal in the AHL this season, third since joining the Admirals, and first scored as an Admiral that wasn’t an empty netter. The second tally was a lightning fast series of passes that sent goaltender Andrey Makarov scrambling once the shot was put on net. Triston Grant buried the loose puck out in front for his seventh goal of the season.

In the second period the Admirals scored their third power-play goal through Brendan Leipsic. It was a tight to the cage effort for Leipsic as he hacked away twice on a loose puck while two defenders closed him down. His last swat had enough on it to go up and over Makarov for his sixth goal of the season.

Just as they did in the first period the Americans were able to score a goal off of a deflection off an Admirals defenseman. Zac Dalpe’s wrister off the right wing wall hit off Anthony Bitetto’s right leg and in past Hellberg on the glove side. It was Dalpe’s eleventh goal of the season.

The Amerks clawed back from the two goal deficit to draw level in the second period. Jerry D’Amigo passed over to Phil Varone who was all alone on the right wing faceoff circle. The 2015 AHL All Star was able to beat a fellow All Star in net as Hellberg wasn’t able to slide over fast enough to stop Varone’s twelfth goal of the season.

That level score wouldn’t be around for long though. Leipsic made a Play of the Year candidate. As the Amerks were looking to get back out of their zone Leipsic raced in and picked the puck clean off of Jake McCabe’s stick and controlled the puck with pace in on Makarov, threw some quick stickhandles in, and buried the goal for his second of the game and seventh of the season.

“I just tried to finish my hit and caught the defenseman being a little too casual and poked [the puck] through,” said Brendan Leipsic. “I was fortunate enough to beat the goalie.”

After the goal by Leipsic the Amerks swapped goalies. Makarov had stopped 15/19 shots before getting pulled. He was replaced by Matt Hackett.

Midway through the third period the Americans equalized once more. Dalpe flicked a backhander in on Hellberg that was coughed up into the air. As it was coming down Dalpe managed to bat the puck through the right arm of Hellberg and in for his second goal of the night and twelfth of the season.

Sick of hearing the Admirals gain a lead and then lose it? Well I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news. The two traded goals late in the third period en route to forcing overtime. Viktor Arvidsson unleashed the howitzer slap shot of his off the crossbar and down. Just to be sure it would count as a goal, Mark Van Guilder cleaned up the loose puck behind the back of Hackett to make it 5-4. It is recorded as Van Guilder’s sixth goal of the season. Only forty-eight seconds later the Amerks tied the game on their third goal scored off of a bank shot off an Admiral. McCabe’s shot hit clean off of Felix Girard and into an open net for his fourth goal of the season.

The moment the game shifted to three-on-three overtime was the decider. The Amerks had iced the puck and the Admirals had an attacking zone faceoff to work with. Austin Watson won the draw back to Taylor Aronson who fed right back to him. Watson delivered a powerful slap shot that blew past the glove of Hackett for his team leading eighteenth goal of the season to win it in overtime.

The Admirals swept the weekend three-in-three and now have a four point gap to the Rockford IceHogs who will be stationary until Friday. The Admirals play on the road against the Chicago Wolves on Wednesday. Good news for all is that this weekend was the last three-in-three of the Admirals season.

“Those two games, the back to back with Rockford, kind of felt like a mini playoff series,” said Leipsic. “Definitely a lot of energy and emotion goes into those but you have to find enough to get another game Sunday. Obviously, guys are spent right now.”

Ramblings: Rich Clune made his return from a lower body injury after missing the Admirals previous four games. The scratches were Miikka Salomaki (upper body), Pontus Aberg (healthy), Jimmy Oligny (right knee), and Johan Alm (left wrist). Joe Piskula was injured in this game and did not return. This comes with the additional news that Mattias Ekholm was injured for the Nashville Predators today as well. After the game, Evason said that the team will most likely call up Jaynen Rissling from the Cincinnati Cyclones, have a played called up, and the Admirals will need to look into bringing in more defensemen.

Thoughts on today’s game? As far as wacky games go where does this rank? How well has the Admirals offense played lately and has it masked defensive issues?

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The roller coaster that was the Milwaukee Admirals against the Rockford IceHogs in Rockford has just come to an end. The Admirals won the track meet 7-5 to claim sole possession of the Midwest Division on the road Saturday night. Viktor Stålberg scored a hat trick, Triston Grant recorded a Gordie Howe hat trick, and Marek Mazanec picked up his seventh straight win in net for the Admirals.

Before this game even started there was a standoff between the Admirals and IceHogs during pre-game skate. There are no officials on the ice for warm ups and shoving got started a half-hour before game time. They then piled up near the penalty box area in neutral ice before dispersing.

T.J. Brennan crushed Kevin Fiala in the game’s opening minute to put the Admirals on a very early power-play. The result saw Taylor Aronson pass over to Brendan Leipsic who hit a wicked one-timer through Scott Darling for his fifth goal of the season.

One of the major instigators in last night’s chippy instances on the ice, Pierre-Cedric Labrie, got his wish shortly after the opening goal. He engaged a fight with Triston Grant and the two hardly landed a blow to each other. They went down on the ice quick and it almost felt like they could have been given roughing calls over the fighting majors that they received.

Fiala and Brennan met yet again but this time the circumstances were flipped as it appeared the 18-year old was looking for a revenge hit of his own. The IceHogs were put to the power-play and Viktor Stålberg pounced on a fumbled puck by Ryan Hartman. The Swede was all alone for the shorthanded breakaway and buried a forehand to backhand deke past Darling for his fifth goal of the season.

Just like that, the Admirals were up 2-0 on the IceHogs off of two special teams play and the IceHogs decided to pull Darling from the net in favor of Michael Leighton. Darling was only in net for 4:11 of ice time in the game and made one save from three shots.

The first period would have another bout on the ice and it was one that almost started the night prior. Mike Liambas and Cody Bass locked up and they landed plenty of punches. This scrap was triggered in last night’s game when Liambas had a huge check along the penalty box boards to Mark McNeill. As Bass came over the boards for a change he went right after Liambas. It didn’t happen then and there. But it did take place in Rockford tonight.

Weirdly, Liambas was given an additional roughing call on his fight with Bass and it ended up biting the Admirals. A great tic-tac-toe passing play set up McNeill all alone in front of Marek Mazanec for an easy finish. The passes started with Matt Carey and Garret Ross along the right wing before setting up McNeill directly in front of goal to score his fourteenth goal of the season.

It seemed for a moment that the IceHogs had leveled the game up at 2-2. Ross faked a slap shot to turn Ian White inside out and cranked a wrister off the crossbar and down. The goal light went on, the players celebrated, but the video review went against all the commotion and it was ruled no goal.

Before you knew it the Admirals turned around and made it 3-1. Stålberg made an incredible play to fly past Dillon Fournier with speed, cut in front of Leighton with power, and finish it all off with a backhander top shelf for his second of the night and sixth goal scored with the Admirals this season.

In the second period the IceHogs scored a shorthanded goal of their own on an “Ugliest Goal of the Year” candidate. Mazanec didn’t catch that Phillip Danault was racing in down the left wing side. When Mazanec left the puck behind his net Danault was able to swoop in, swat at the puck before Aronson could get to it, and then the bounces came. The puck hit off Danault’s stick, Aronson’s leg, Mazanec’s back, and then the ice inside the net for Danault’s seventh goal of the season.

With 3:59 remaining in the second, Hartman was called for a roughing minor that sent the Admirals to the power-play and the IceHogs’ Ross to a temper tantrum. The forward was ejected after exchanging words with the officials following the call on the ice.

From that power-play Stålberg capped off his hat trick by scoring his seventh goal of the season. The Admirals power-play goal was almost identical to that of the IceHogs earlier in the game. It was a tic-tac-toe play between Viktor Arvidsson and Colton Sissons before laying off to the front of the net for Stålberg for the hat trick. Not a bad way to celebrate Swedish Heritage Night in Rockford if I do say so myself.

The third period brought about the third fight of the night. After a hit along the boards Brennan dropped his gloves and attempted to engage Liambas. It would have been Liambas’ second fight of the night and a game penalty as a result so he smartly declined and actually drew a penalty against Brennan for delay of game. Meanwhile, Hartman grappled Félix Girard and those two tussled themselves into the ice.

As Brennan’s penalty expired the Anthony Bitetto hit Grant with a picture perfect stretch pass that sent him loose on a breakaway. The veteran torched Leighton on a snapshot high glove side for his sixth goal of the season.

Less than a minute later the IceHogs got that goal right back. Some really solid work in front of the net by Ryan Schnell jarred a puck loose to the side of the net. Jamie Wise was quick to react, and picked up the puck behind the net and was able to bank a shot off of Mazanec and in for his third goal of the season.

The Admirals tallied their sixth goal of the night off of their third breakaway goal of the game. Grant was able to set Austin Watson free down the right wing and, after a faked slap shot, he cut in on Leighton and deposited his seventeenth goal of the season as a pair of IceHogs defensemen crashed him into the net. The assist on the play for Grant gave him a hat trick of his own – the Gordie Howe variety.

Rockford had their net emptied and the extra attacker on when Schnell scored his second goal of the season with fourteen seconds remaining in the game. Thankfully, the scoring wasn’t done there because Ian White decided to score his second empty netter with the Admirals this season to reach the game at its mind blowing 7-5 final.

Massive credit for this game must be given to Mazanec in net. The Admirals, especially in the second period, were actually quite over-matched on offense and resorted to quick-strike counter attacks to catch out the aggressive IceHogs. Mazanec made thirty-nine saves tonight in a thrill ride of a game that saw his counterparts on the opposite side get lit up like they haven’t in ages. The Admirals scored seven goals from only eighteen shots. That is simply scary when you consider the goalies they just did that to.

The game’s video highlights are broken up into three parts. You can watch them period by period: 1st Period, 2nd Period, and 3rd Period.

Ramblings: The Admirals lineup and line combinations were exactly the same as they were last night against the IceHogs. The difference though was that Rich Clune actually participated in pre-game skate today. I imagine that means he is cleared to play but was a game time decision and the team elected to roll the same group out as the night before and make sure Clune is 100% before going back at it. Perhaps he’ll return tomorrow afternoon? We’ll see. This game had a combined seventy-two penalty minutes. It’s the most goals that the IceHogs have allowed in a single game this season – the previous high was five goals allowed and came against the Iowa Wild.

Thoughts on this game? Putting aside technical aspects and thinking purely on entertainment – was this the game of the year so far? Will the Admirals have anything left in the tank for tomorrow?

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The Admirals won 4-1 against the Rockford IceHogs Friday night to move into a first place tie in the Midwest Division. Kevin Fiala scored his first two professional goals on North American ice as Marek Mazanec earned his sixth consecutive win in net for the Admirals.

“It’s a huge game for us,” said Joe Piskula. “We were playing for first place and we knew it was going to be a battle. Both teams played well I thought. They’re fast, they played fast and sometimes that is going to work in their favor. Tonight we just got the job done.”

When the Admirals second power-play in the first period ended they were caught tired and flatfooted. Cody Bass, fresh out of the box, received a clearance from Klas Dahlbeck and was off to the races. Ian White was the last man back for the Ads but was gassed and allowed Bass to get inside position to whip his backhander in on goal. Marek Mazanec threw a blocker to the puck but it got through for Bass’ first goal of the season.

In the second period the Admirals equalized on Kevin Fiala’s first pro goal in North America. The native of Switzerland snuck behind the IceHogs defense and Mark Van Guilder hit him on a stretch pass that sent him in on goal all alone. Fiala pulled a backhander that flew over the glove of Michael Leighton and in, top shelf, for the goal. Jonathan Diaby was credited with the secondary assist on the marker to notch his first career point in pro hockey, as well.

Zach Budish’s fifth goal of the season came moments after Fiala’s tally to give the Admirals their first lead of the night. Joe Piskula made a great pass as he was smothered by Matt Carey and Ville Pokka that fell over to Budish breaking down the middle of the faceoff circles. The shot torched through Leighton to make it 2-1 after two period of play.

Fiala would tag the IceHogs again in the third period. Ian White’s point shot on the power-play deflected off of Fiala’s stick before ricocheting in front of Leighton. Fiala was quick enough and free enough in space to stab the puck into the open net to score his second of the night before the veteran netminder could react.

“His two goals are really his game right now,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “He’s a little bit behind. The game is quick for him and today was a really heavy game. He’s not used to playing that. That’s why he’s here playing for us preparing him to play for the Nashville Predators.”

Rockford decided to pull Leighton for the extra attacker with 3:09 remaining. Fiala was fighting for his hat trick big but missed out – as did Mazanec on a goalie goal that was knifed down by a high stick in neutral ice. The tally would eventually fall to Viktor Stalberg on the empty netter for his fourth goal with the Admirals this season.

“I was sure it’s in,” smiled Marek Mazanec after the game as he described his empty net bid. “Because it was a perfect shot and when the guy hit it I was like no way. It’s so lucky, but we won the game and it’s another assist so it’s good.”

How about a shoutout to Mazanec’s overall night in net? His only goal allowed came on a bad break at the end of an Admiral penalty kill and from that point out he was lights out. He stopped twenty-three shots to pick up his sixth straight win for the Admirals. He also picked up his fourth assist of the season on the empty net tally.

Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Miikka Salomaki (upper body), Rich Clune (right leg), Jimmy Oligny (right knee), and Johan Alm (left wrist). All are expected to miss the weekend’s next two games. The Admirals and IceHogs are now tied for the Midwest Division lead at 58 points each but the tie-break sees the Admirals currently atop the division and third in conference.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Is this a statement win for the Admirals? Will the first goals for Fiala take some weight off his shoulders? More of the same tomorrow?

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The Admirals lost 3-2 in a shootout against the Lake Erie Monsters Tuesday night. The Monsters came back from a 2-0 deficit for the second time against the Admirals this season.

“We were happy with the way we played,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “We played hard. We played right. They wanted it as bad as we did.”

In the pre-game skate Mike Liambas and Daniel Maggio had a chat at center ice. I’m going to assume it wasn’t about the weather or tonight’s attendance. The first chance they shared the ice in the first period they dropped the gloves. That bout lasted a good while. The officials really let them go. All in all, I would score that even in the fight card. Maggio had the start and Liambas had the take-down finish.

The second period was cruising along with the Monsters enjoying the better part of attacking hockey. After the Admirals first power-play things did start to even out. Then came the breakthrough courtesy of Triston Grant’s fifth goal of the season. Taylor Aronson managed to skate all the way up to the lower left faceoff circle and throw a low shot on Calvin Pickard. The puck kicked off the pads and right to Grant who popped in the rebound.

It only took the Admirals 3:25 of ice time before capitalizing again. This time it was Colton Sissons who was in the right place at the right time. Karl Stollery fell over in the left wing pocket and gifted the puck right to Sissons who passed over to Viktor Arvidsson. The puck seemed to knuckle up on the Swede but bounced to Sissons with Pickard reading the play wrong big time. Sissons was free in space to the left wing circle and had a wide open net to lay a wrister off on for his fifteenth goal of the season.

Lake Erie got on the board in the third period with a shorthanded goal. Ben Street and Colin Smith were off to the races with only Taylor Aronson between them. Street passed up to Smith in neutral ice before getting the puck right back once Aronson clamped down towards Smith. The pass hit Street clean and he tagged Magnus Hellberg for his third goal of the season. It ended a shutout streak for Hellberg of 137:19 over the last three games.

After a Zach Budish tripping call the Monsters were able to equalize with a power-play goal. Smith, who set up their first goal, repeated the feat on the second tally as he raced into the zone off the right wing before nailing a perfect pass to Paul Carey on the backdoor of Hellberg. It’s Carey’s twelfth goal of the season and his fourth scored against the Admirals in five games.

In overtime, the Admirals were in complete desperation mode with a power-play in three-on-three that gave an extra attacker to the Monsters. Hellberg made crazy stop after crazy stop including a play that needed to be reviewed before determining that it wasn’t an overtime game-winning goal.

After surviving on the penalty kill in overtime the Admirals ended up taking their chances in the shootout. Every skater missed their shootout attempt until the last man in the third round, Joey Hishon, beat Hellberg off a slow backhander that flicked up and over the Swede and into the back of the net to seal the Monsters’ comeback after trailing 2-0.

“I don’t think we should have even gone to overtime in the first place,” said Magnus Hellberg. “I thought we played really well. We dropped the 2-0 lead in the third and that shouldn’t happen.”

When the Admirals played in Lake Erie on December 18 they lost a 2-0 lead and allowed four straight goals to the Monsters. Tonight they lost their 2-0 in the third period through a pair of special teams plays. It might not be the best setup game for the Admirals with the Rockford IceHogs coming in this weekend. Devil’s advocate, perhaps this was just the sort of game the Ads needed before such a showdown.

“Coach liked how way we played,” said Triston Grant. “We played good before Saturday as well in Grand Rapids so I think we’re just playing the right way. Sometimes you find, when you’re making mistakes, it ends up in the back of your net. I think we have to tweak a couple of things and get ready for a big weekend.”

Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were all due to injury: Miikka Salomaki (upper body), Rich Clune (lower body), Jimmy Oligny (lower body), and Johan Alm (upper body). The loss tonight was the first experienced for the Milwaukee Admirals when Zach Budish was in the lineup. The team had won all fourteen games he factored into prior to tonight.

Thoughts on tonight’s performance? What happened in the third period? Does the finish to this game worry you for the Admirals upcoming weekend three-in-three?

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The Admirals won 4-0 on the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins Saturday night. Magnus Hellberg picked up his tenth career AHL shutout for the Admirals as the team successfully dusted themselves off and returned the favor to the Griffins who earned the shutout against them not even twenty-four hours earlier.

It only took the Admirals 1:24 of this game to accomplish what was so painfully difficult the night before, score. Nathan Paetsch was called for a slash forty-seven seconds into the game and the Admirals capitalized. Colton Sissons won a draw that fell back to Brendan Leipsic who set up Taylor Aronson for a point shot. As the puck flew in on Jonas Gustavsson it deflected off of Sissons stick blade and in for his thirteenth goal of the season. The goal by the Admirals ended a shutout streak for the Griffins that lasted 141:56 of ice time over the course of four games.

Last night there was an unfortunate injury to Rich Clune after an awkward collision into the boards. Tonight, the same story could be said for defenseman Jimmy Oligny. In the second period he lost an edge on a play back to his own net and hit the end boards skates first. As Oligny’s body went upright it appeared that his right knee bent in on itself at a bad angle. He was helped off the ice and did not return to the game.

While the injury to Oligny was a sad sight it seemed to spark the Admirals. They immediately scored following the injury stoppage on Pontus Åberg’s fifteenth goal of the season. Austin Watson was set up behind the Griffins net and caught Gustavsson focusing a bit too much on the left wing. Watson passed over to Åberg on the right wing and the Swede scored on a tight angle shot into a nearly wide open net.

There was also a very wild shift in the second period for Kevin Fiala that turned him into a targeted man for the rest of the frame. After exchanging crosschecks with the much larger Brennan Evans, Fiala skated down to neutral ice and attempted to deliver an elbow to the head of Andy Miele right in front of the penalty box. Thankfully for Miele the elbow missed, but it was a bizarre shift for Nashville top selection in the 2014 NHL Draft.

With a power-play expiring, and 1:32 remaining in the second period, Sissons was able to secure a second deflection goal on the night for his fourteenth goal of the season. Aronson’s shot from close to the right point appeared to take a deflection off of Landon Ferraro before bouncing in off the leg of Sissons in front of the net.

Trailing 3-0 with a power-play at hand, the Griffins made an aggressive decision empty their net with more than seven minutes left in regulation. The Admirals first killed off the penalty and then secured a long range empty net tally by Ian White for the dagger. It’s White’s second goal on the AHL this season but first scored since joining the Admirals.

Magnus Hellberg’s stellar form this season showed up yet again tonight. He stopped all twenty-six of shots he faced and punched in his tenth career AHL shutout. Those league best goaltending numbers for Hellberg continue to get better and better.

This game capped off a white hot month of January for the Admirals. Remember how frustrating December was? The Ads managed to go 2-6-3-1 that month and following it up by going 10-2-0-0 in January. Outstanding, if I do say so myself.

Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Miikka Salomaki (upper body), Rich Clune (lower body), and Johan Alm (upper body). It was also a scratch heavy lineup for the Griffins who had players getting sick on the overnight bus trip back to Grand Rapids: Czarnowczan, Pulkkinen, Chouinard, Nosek, Aubry, Athanasiou, and Nagle were all out tonight.

Thoughts on tonight’s response? Shall we mark up yesterday’s dud as an All Star break hangover? How important has Hellberg been to the Admirals this season? Could he possibly get an NHL call up soon?

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The Admirals were shutout 3-0 by the Grand Rapids Griffins Friday night. It ends the Ads franchise record nine-game winning streak in rather painful fashion. This was pretty much a game that the Griffins had in cruise control from start to finish.

“Very disappointing regardless of what has happened of in the past,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “Tonight’s game was disappointing. We played a good hockey game but we turned the puck over first goal, we make a mistake on the second, we turn the puck over on the third goal. I honestly think we out-chanced that hockey team tonight. Their goalie was great. I thought we had our chances to score. We just made some, for the lack of a better term, bonehead plays to hurt our hockey team.”

The game’s first power-play sent Temmu Pulkkinen to the penalty box for a trip to Brendan Leipsic. The problem with that is, if the power-play goes bust, the AHL’s top scorer is ready to break out of the box the other way. The Griffins worked their kill and exit to tee up Pulkkinen out of their PK and get a two-on-one. Pulkkinen passed over to Mitch Callahan who scored five hole on a first timed shot for his sixteenth goal of the season.

After the Admirals had a goal disallowed at one end the Griffins bashed in their second of the first period down at the other. Nathan Paetsh’s shot from the left point took a deflection through the net front traffic and hit off of Magnus Hellberg’s left pad. The puck fell kindly for Landon Ferraro who put in the rebound for his nineteenth goal of the season.

In the second period the Griffins extended their lead to 3-0. Tomas Nosek made a spectacular cut across the mouth of goal, right to left, and pushed a puck underneath Hellberg. The puck squirted loosed behind the big Swede who had no clue where the shot by Nosek had gone. It had fallen free behind him in the crease and was easy pickings for Mark Zengerle to score his sixth goal of the season. He probably won’t score an easier goal than that in his career.

The scoring would end right there on the night. That means back-to-back shutouts for Griffins netminder Jared Coreau on consecutive nights. He stopped all thirty-eight shots he faced against the Iowa Wild last night and all twenty-eight the Admirals threw at him tonight.

“Some guys got to look individually at some mistakes that we made,” said Evason. “After that we’ve got to bounce back. We play a hockey game tomorrow. We play a hockey team tomorrow that hasn’t given up a goal in two games and scored nine. We’re going into a real tough situation but going to enjoy the challenge.”

Ramblings: Prior to tonight’s game the Admirals recalled Zach Budish from the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL. It was the second such move this week as Rob Madore was also brought up in a corresponding move to Marek Mazanec’s call to the Nashville Predators. Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Miikka Salomaki (upper-body), Zach Budish (healthy) and Johan Alm (upper-body). Rich Clune took an awkward hit into the end boards in the first period and did not return to the game following the incident.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? What went wrong? Can you push this aside as just a controlled game for Grand Rapids with a hot goaltender in net?

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Tonight was a record setting AHL All Star Classic. The Western Conference took down the Eastern Conference by a final score of 14-12. It is the most goals that have ever been scored in an AHL All Star contest and saw four players score hat tricks: Charles Hudon, Mark McNeill, Shane Prince, and the Milwaukee Admirals own Brendan Leipsic.

With the hat trick tonight, Leipsic became the first ever Admiral to score a hat trick in an AHL All Star Classic. He scored a goal in each period and was set up by a former teammate of his with the Portland Winterhawks on all three goals that he scored.

Magnus Hellberg entered into the game in the second period. In his last appearance with the Admirals he allowed a goal on the first shot he faced. That didn’t happen in the AHL All Star Classic though. He stopped the first shot he faced and then proceeded to allow four goals in 4:46 of ice time. In total, Hellberg stopped 12/18 shots on goal. Thanks to the ridiculous performance by Richard Bachman in the third period, where he stopped 18/22 shots on goal, Hellberg secured the win in the game as the West maintained their lead from the second period to the end.

Have fun watching the AHL All Star Classic? Better than theNHL’s? How did our boys look? 

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The Admirals won 4-3 against the Iowa Wild Friday night. It is now a franchise record nine game winning streak for the Admirals who saw fireworks delivered by Rich Clune tonight. The forward had a fight and a goal in front of a rowdy crowd on Country Music Night.

“We just look forward,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “To be honest with you we didn’t like our game tonight. Last [game] we said we did some good things but not so good things, some good and some bad. Tonight we had a little more bad than good again. The break will be good for us.”

It only took Viktor Arvidsson fifty-two seconds to damage the Wild as he has done so often this season. The Swede received a pass before entering neutral ice from Anthony Bitetto, swopped across the Admirals logo, and then deked Matt Dumba out of his skates to break in on goal from the left wing. Arvidsson went backhand to forehand and beat Johan Gustafsson glove side for his fifteenth goal of the season and sixth scored against Iowa.

The Wild pulled right back in the third minute of the game with a sloppy goal. After a wrap-around attempt caused a loose puck to fall in front of Marek Mazanec the crowd of players kept chipping away at the loose puck for what felt like an eternity. There was no whistle until the puck finally crossed the line. Tyler Graovac was credited with the final touch for his fourteenth goal of the season. The Admirals bench was not happy at all that the officials allowed play to continue.

To end the first period the Admirals earned the game’s first power-play. It overlapped into the second period and the Ads managed to cash in. Kevin Fiala and Bitetto were passing to each other wing-to-wing before the Switzerland native fed to Colton Sissons in front of the net. Gustafsson opened the wickets just enough for Sissons to score five hole for his twelfth goal of the season. The primary assist went to Fiala for his first career pro point in North America.

Then came the fisticuffs. After an explosive hit by Jimmy Oligny and Mike Liambas to Brett Bulmer, Rich Clune dropped the gloves with Wild captain Stephane Veilleux. Clune had that fight from start to finish. Liambas would pair off with Kurtis Gabriel shortly after in the second period. Liambas had the start and Gabriel had the finish.

After the Admirals killed off a power-play to start the third period they found the back of the net. After creating a turnover in front of the net Austin Watson delivered a perfect set up to the back door of Gustafsson that gave Clune more than enough net to smack home his fourth goal of the season.

“He’s been great,” said Austin Watson of Clune. “He’s outspoken, as you guys know, and he just works hard. He goes out there and you know you’re going to get a hard working guy every night. That’s a good feeling as teammates.”

Then came a flurry from the Wild to equalize the game after falling down to a two goal deficit. Graovac had a pass that went to Gabriel whose whiffed shot hit off a skate and right to Zack Mitchell on the left wing side of the net to score his eleventh goal of the season.

When Triston Grant was called for interference, Matt Dumba’s slap shot from the center point rifled past Mazanec high blocker side to level the game off a power-play goal at 3-3 on the rookie defenseman’s fifth goal of the season. The goal snapped the Admirals penalty kill run of twenty-two straight kills.

With 6:37 remaining in the third period Watson scored his sixteenth goal of the season to restore the Admirals lead. He skated in off the left wing on a mini two-on-one with Clune out on his opposite wing. After Stu Bickel went down and out, Watson turned and fired a wrist shot on goal and managed to find a hole in Gustafsson to make it 4-3.

Wave upon wave of pressure came on Mazanec in net in the closing minutes of the game. Bitetto was called for a high stick and the Wild had plenty of in-tight chances to score in the final seconds but the Admirals killed off the penalty and survived the push with the Wild net emptied. The winning streak has hit a franchise record nine games.

“We’re finding ways to win,” said Watson. “Tonight, and last game, we didn’t do a lot of the right things but we found a way to win. The games before then we were just playing the game properly. Getting pucks in at lines and taking care of our own end and it is translating into offense for us.”

Ramblings: Yesterday the Admirals assigned four players to the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL: Joe Pendenza, Zach Budish, Frederick Gaudreau, and Garrett Noonan. Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Pontus Aberg (healthy) and Johan Alm (upper body).

Thoughts on tonight’s game? How great of an addition has Rich Clune been for the Admirals since joining?

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The Admirals won 3-2 in a shootout against the Utica Comets Wednesday night. It pushes the Ads winning streak to eight games which ties a franchise mark. Marek Mazanec entered in relief of Magnus Hellberg and shutdown the Comets as the Admirals stormed out of a two goal deficit to take home the extra point in the shootout.

“I think we’re playing a simple game,” said Brendan Leipsic. “We’re not making as high risk of plays I think as we were after Christmas when we were in a jam. I think everybody is buying into the way we need to play.”

It only took the Comets thirty-seven seconds to score off of the game’s first shot. Taylor Aronson had his pocket picked and it sent Darren Archibald off to the races down the left wing. He managed to get a wrister off before Anthony Bitetto could close him down and beat Magnus Hellberg low glove for his sixth goal of the season.

The Comets extended their lead at 12:30 into the first period and, with it, ended Hellberg’s night in net. The play from the Comets was simple. They passed on over from right to left and Hunter Shinkaruk’s shot appeared to surprise Hellberg on the near post. The puck went through Hellberg’s blocker for Shinkaruk’s sixth goal of the season. Marek Mazanec, freshly reassigned to the Admirals today from the Nashville Predators, was brought in to relieve Hellberg who went three for five in save opportunities.

“He just didn’t look comfortable,” said Evason. “And that just hasn’t been him. He’s been so good, so solid for us, and he didn’t look right. We were pretty quick obviously with it, but we just felt he didn’t look right in the net.”

An answer goal finally came for the Admirals in the last minute of the first period. Brendan Leipsic’s pass over to Viktor Stalberg was an easy tap in over the outstretched Jacob Markstrom. The net was coming off on the opposite post and Markstom was making his case that the net wasn’t on at the time it was scored. All things being the same, that was a sitter for Stalberg and Markstrom had no chance to make the stop anyways. It’s Stalberg’s third goal with the Admirals this season.

The second period had a similar finish. With ten seconds remaining Miikka Salomaki banged home a juicy rebound to score his seventh goal of the season. Joe Piskula made a great play to step up from defense and keep the puck deep. Viktor Arvidsson was able to get the puck on his backhand, whip a shot on Markstrom, and the backhander kicked out to the path of Salomaki on the doorstep.

This game ended up going to and through overtime. Perhaps the best chance in OT came from the final play. Stalberg was loose on a breakaway but was stopped by a last ditch diving poke check from behind by Bobby Sanguinetti as time expired to send the game to a shootout.

Kevin Fiala, who made his North American pro hockey debut with the Admirals tonight, was the first man out for the shootout. He sniped past Markstrom with a quick release of a forehand shot to get the Ads on the board first in the shooutout.

“It was a good experience,” said Kevin Fiala. “You get no time over here. You have to watch always if someone is coming or not. That was the most different thing I think.”

Brandon DeFazio responded to Fiala’s goal with a backhander past Mazanec. It was the first puck to get through Mazanec since he entered the game as he stopped all twenty-one shots he faced prior to the shootout. Stalberg was next up for the Admirals and he rifled high glove to make it 2-1. After successive failed attempts the game fell to the Comets’ Shinkaruk. He pushed the game into extras with a wrister that over-powered Mazanec to the glove side.

In extras of the shootout the first round saw misses for Arvidsson and former-Admiral Cal O’Reilly. Salomaki, who tied the game at the end of the second period, would pop in a backhanded shot in the fifth round to make it match point. Mazanec faced Dustin Jeffrey. And he stopped his five hole attempt to give the Admirals their eight straight win.

Ramblings: Prior to the game there were a pair of roster moves made. The Nashville Predators reassigned Marek Mazanec to the Milwaukee Admirals which saw a trickle-down effect pushing Rob Madore back to the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL. Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Mike Liambas, Joe Pendenza, Zach Budish, Frederick Gaudreau, Garrett Noonan, and Johan Alm. After the game Evason stated that Alm, who has missed nineteen straight games due to an upper body injury, has started skating but there is no time table for his return.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? What happened to Magnus Hellberg to start the game? How did you feel about Kevin Fiala’s debut and the return of Viktor Stalberg? Was Marek Mazanec the key to this win?

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The Admirals won 4-3 in overtime against the Adirondack Flames on the road Saturday night. The Flames overcame two two-goal deficits and forced overtime in the final minute. The overtime hero would be Viktor Arvidsson tonight who whirled in a spectacular backhander for his second goal on the night to give the Admirals a season high winning streak of seven games.

This game began with some solid puck possession for the Flames which was highlighted by them earning two power-plays in the first period. Against the run of play, Rich Clune had a shorthanded breakaway that he buried past goaltender Brad Thiessen’s glove to score his third goal of the season. It’s the first shorthanded goal scored in 2014-15 by the Admirals. The only two teams yet to record a shorthanded goal this season are the Oklahoma City Barons and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

The Admirals extended their lead in the second period after a very fortunate bounce. The Flames were unable to clear their own zone when Mark Cundari’s banked clearing attempt off the glass went into the path of Miikka Salomaki who kicked the puck high up into the air. The bounce that the puck took off the ice skipped in on Thiessen in net who managed to kick the puck aside but right in line with Salomaki. The Finn retrieved the rebound and popped in a backhanded shot past the pads for his sixth goal of the season.

After Joe Piskula was caught playing too far forward in the offensive end of the ice the Flames were able to rush off on a two-on-one. Ben Hanowski and David Wolf executed the odd man break to perfection as they made two quick passes to get Jonathan Diaby to bite one way and had Magnus Hellberg scrambling in net before Wolf deposited the puck into a nearly wide open cage for his eighth goal of the season.

With the Admirals first power-play chance of the night came just another booming slap shot goal for Viktor Arvidsson. Brendan Leipsic passed up to the point for Taylor Aronson who teed up the one-timed shot for Arvidsson who bashed in his thirteenth goal of the season and sixth scored on the power-play.

The game would go back to a one-goal advantage only 1:17 of ice time later. The Flames were able to work a loose puck out in front of Hellberg and Wolf managed to find it before three Admirals out in front of the net could. It was a quick move to Wolf’s right before beating Hellberg to the glove side for his second goal of the night and ninth of the season.

Last night the Admirals were celebrating a last minute goal. Tonight they were on the receiving end of last minute theatrics. The Flames pulled Thiessen and burned their timeout with 1:33 remaining in regulation. With only fifty-one seconds remaining Michael Ferland’s fifth goal of the season sent the game to overtime. The Flames used their numbers around Hellberg in net and Wolf managed to pass off to Ferland on the back door for the tap in.

In the overtime period Arvidsson finished the game off with a dazzling individual effort. The Swede dangled in off the right wing before moving on to center and then whipped in a backhander that beat Thiessen high blocker side for his second tally of the game and fourteenth on the season. During this season long winning streak Arvidsson has scored nine points, five goals, and four assists in seven games.

Ramblings: Prior to the game the Nashville Predators recalled defenseman Anthony Bitetto. He made his NHL debut tonight playing on the road against the Detroit Red Wings. Tonight’s Admirals scratches were Joe Pendenza (healthy), Frederick Gaudreau (healthy), and Johan Alm (upper body). Taylor Aronson returned to the lineup after missing the previous two games of the road trip due to an undisclosed injury. Kevin Fiala has yet to join the team and is expected to arrive in Milwaukee on Monday.

Thoughts from tonight’s performance? Did the Admirals dodge a bullet tonight? How would you rate Viktor Arvidsson amongst the Admirals forwards right now?

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